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                July 2011

   Positive CoachingPositive Coaching

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Positive Coaching is a nonprofit, whose mission is to educate and encourage positive attitudes and behavior in all athletic endeavors by coaches, parents, administrators, media, and players.
 
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In The News
 
Drug police stand sentinel at the Tour
 By Bob Ford
The Inquirer  

Pick a big sporting event in this country. Make it one with a lot of tradition and wide national interest. Make sure the biggest stars are easily recognizable. If possible, give it an international field, bringing together competitors from many cultures.

Let's make it the Masters, in fact, the annual, reverential celebration of colorful shrubbery and pale competitors.

All right. Now imagine that one year in Augusta, as the tournament is proceeding, the golfers find themselves subject to repeated late-night searches of their hotel rooms by the police. They also hear the knocks on their doors at any hour and there in the hallway is a team from the drug-testing authority that has arrived unannounced and is not going to leave without a urine and blood sample. There are even random checkpoints leading to and from the course where the courtesy cars are stopped so the authorities can rummage through the trunks. Is nothing sacred?

After a couple of days of this, perhaps even a few hours, the golfers respond. They sit together at the tee box on the first hole and announce that the tournament will not continue until the harassment ends.

And then the organizers have a decision to make.

Tip of the Month
 
 
 

As coaches we run into many problems and questions from our athletes and sport parents about supplements and drugs.  At the beginning of the season, during the team/parent meeting,  I tell the group that I do not believe in drugs or supplements for sports.  I remind them that supplements are not tested by the FDA and that coaches and parents should model a healthy balanced diet for their athletes. 

 
If a parent or athlete presses the issue.  I tell them to talk to their doctor and if they endorse a drug or supplement that I need to see a written prescription.  This helps to decrease the coach's liability.
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 Drugs, Sport, Parents & Athletes   

 

In the current news, we are hearing about the trials and tribulations of performance enhancing drugs.  The NFL,  NBA, MLB, Tour Le France, etc.  Another challenge for youth sport parents, coaches and athletes. No surprise to you and me this is also taking place in the high school and middle school age sport youth; and sadly your athlete may be among them.

 

Supplements and performance drugs are used to boost athletic performance, delay fatigue, enhance physical appearance, increase strength and muscle mass.  Sounds great, but there are serious draw backs that will last long into the  future of our youth.  Lets take a look at some of these popular supplements and drugs.

 

Anabolic steroids   Basically synthetic testosterone.  It builds muscle and strength.  They can slow or halt bone growth and damage the heart and liver. 

 

Steroid precursors  Used to increase muscle mass by using DHEA and Andro substances.  You can read DHEA as an ingredient in a lot of over the counter health food store products. Again, can cause heart, liver and bone damage.

 

Creatine   This is already in the body but can be added as a supplement as an over the counter product from health food stores.  Used to enhance recovery from training and to increase muscle mass and strength.  Can cause weight gain, muscle cramping and vomiting.  Can be harmful to the liver.

 

Why do young athletes take them?

 

      Lack of positive body image 

      Peer pressure from other athletes

      Advice from sport parents

      As seen on television

      Pressure to perform

      Poor advice from the coaching staff

 

What we can do?

 

Communication with the coach, sport parents and athletes.  It needs to be out in the open.

 

Education--use examples of the damage it has done to athletes' bodies, careers and reputations.

 

Understand the ramifications for athletic scholarships.

 

Sport parents need to unify their expectations for each other and their athletes.

 

Observe for abuse of drugs and supplements, watch for male pattern baldness and acne.  Observe moody or angry outbursts.  If you can tell the difference with normal teen hormones, good luck! 

 

Females taking on male characteristics, deep voice, dark facial hair. 

 
We are here to keep you informed.  If you have any information that you would like to share with our readers, please email me at:
[email protected]
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"Quote of the Month" 
 

"It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions, but hard to get one single remedy" 

 

                                                                 --Chinese Proverb 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Tom Van Buskirk
Positive Coaching
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Life Dimensions

Aviation Property Management
In This Issue
In The News
Tip of the Month
Drugs, Sports, Parents & Athletes
A Word from the Coach
Quick Links
A Word from the
Coach 
 
In our past newsletters I have advocated the coaching style of being an observant coach.  Our young athletes, male and female, ages 6 through 18, are exposed to many undesirable peer pressures when it comes to drugs.
    
As coaches we are in a very ideal setting to observe drug abuses. Kids are very good at hiding such behaviors.   
     
I encourage you to email me at [email protected] with any tricks you have discovered so we can pass them onto our coaches and sport parents.
 
Here are a few tricks that I have uncovered:
 
Vodka in water bottles
 
Drops for watery/red eyes to disguise marijuana use
 
Dry mouth is often attributed to heroine use (look for needle marks on arms)
 
Vicks Vapor rub to hide odors
 
Menthol nasal inhalers to store cocaine
 
Skittles and M&M's packages to hide pills
 
Lollipops to hide involuntary teeth clenching
 
As coaches we are in the trenches to help stop drug abuse.  You can be one of the most effective positive influence on our youth.
                --Coach V